Story by Tendai Munengwa
ZIMBABWE’S ongoing construction boom has created a surge in demand for local engineers, with graduates from a local civil engineering institute expressing confidence in their ability to fill the growing skills gap.
Driven by the Nyika Inovakwa Nevene Vayo/Ilizwe Lakhiwa Ngabanikazi Balo mantra, the rapid expansion of the construction sector has underscored the need to train and equip more engineers to sustain the country’s infrastructure development momentum.
To complement public institutions which are churning out engineers to match the construction trends, Harare Institute of Engineering and Commerce has come on board to equip students with practical engineering skills to participate in the government’s signature projects.
“I am happy to be one of the women engineers who participated in the construction of the Trabablas Interchange. Now I have graduated in civil engineering. I believe our job is in high demand because of the construction boom in the country- I feel like other women who go for civil engineering, which used to be reserved for men,” Civil Engineering Graduate, Engineer Gracious Sibanda said.
“I have done a lot of civil works for the private and public institutions, with our President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s Nyika Inovakwa Nevene Vayo gaining traction. I believe local engineers can help build our country to an upper middle income society by 2030,” Civil Engineer, Harare Institute of Engineering and Commerce, Engineer Gideon Chombe said.
Deputy Director Infrastructure Planning and Management, Harare Metropolitan Province, Engineer Hebert Parichi, who stood in for Minister of State for Harare Provincial Affairs and Devolution, Senator Charles Tawenga, at the graduation ceremony held in Harare on Friday, commended the private institution for complementing public institutions to churn out engineers who can match the construction boom under the Second Republic.
“Engineers are in demand because of the growth in our construction industry. We are happy that the private sector has come on board to produce engineers. This will go a long way towards ensuring that construction taking will be superintended by qualified personnel,” he said.
The Second Republic, under the leadership of President Emmerson Mnangagwa, took a deliberate policy to empower local contractors to construct roads and infrastructure development – a move that has created jobs for local engineers and youths at large.
